Review: 2009 Justin Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles
This Paso Robles winemaker is a staple of wine lists and most wine markets, and Justin now commands a huge footprint, boasting sales in 23 countries. The lion’s share of its production is still this Cabernet Sauvignon, which comprises nearly half of its bottle count. The wine itself is on the lighter side for a…
Review: Auchentoshan Valinch 2011 and 1999 Vintage Bordeaux Matured
Auchentoshan is in just about every way an oddity. It’s the only distillery in the city of Glasgow (making it a Lowlands whisky), and it’s the only Scotch whisky that’s distilled three times instead of the usual two (meaning it comes off the final still at an incredibly high 162 proof). The house style uses…
Review: the20 Box Wines
Part of the problem with box wines isn’t the wine, it’s the box. No matter what you put inside, it’s hard to get past these ugly, sometimes garishly designed, cardboard boxes on your countertop. Frankly, they’re a bit embarrassing, and while box wines generate less waste than their glass-bottled counterparts, at the end of the…
Review: New Belgium Ranger IPA
Utilizing three different types of hops and a dry-hop cycle, New Belgium’s Ranger is an affordable and readily available IPA that promises to satiate any hop-head’s appetite. Pouring a pale straw goldenrod color with a surprising clarity, Ranger looks the part of a solid IPA. The clear body is what really intrigues me given the…
Review: Buffalo Trace Distillery Single Oak Project Bourbon Round Three
We’re now 36 whiskeys into the 192 to be produced as part of Buffalo Trace’s Single Oak Project. Check out our coverage of Round One and Round Two to catch up if you’re unsure what this series of very limited-release Bourbons is all about. How does this round measure up? This time, all of the…
Review: B Cellars Blend 23 and Blend 24 Wines
B Cellars, based in California’s Calistoga, styles itself as a “negociant” winery — a producer which buys grapes from all over the place, then blends them into a product that is, theoretically, greater than the sum of its parts. With cryptic, numerical names, these wines are all interesting combinations of grapes you don’t often see.…
Review: Pierre Ferrand 1840 Original Formula Cognac
Cognac Ferrand’s latest release says, “Out with the old, in with the… old?” Designed with the help of cocktail wunderkind David Wondrich, Ferrand’s 1840 Original Formula is a “Revival” Cognac, blended and aged in an attempt to emulate what a 19th century style spirit might have tasted like — hence the name. Wondrich and Ferrand’s…
Review: Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon 2002 Vintage
One of the highlights of the Drinkhacker year is always the arrival of the Evan Williams Single Barrel Bourbon release, which is invariably just coming out of cask from a bit over nine years earlier. We’ve reviewed EW Single Barrel since the 1999 release and, even better, I’ve got all four bottles on hand to…
